Plasma is a partially ionized gas. Plasma has traditionally been used in the semiconductor industry to deposit etching, ion implantation and surface treatment materials.
In other industries, plasma arc torches have been conceived for cutting and melting materials.
A need has long existed for a plasma generator that can cut and melt waste materials and provide a process for the recovery of product from those waste materials, such as hydrogen gas, molten metal or other material.
Recently, a fuel gas generator was invented which could be used to recover enough hydrogen from the process to run steam boilers that in turn ran steam turbines and produced power. However, this generator needed an automatic feed handling system to keep production of the steam consistent. In addition to being automated, the feed handling system needed to be inexpensive, and capable of withstanding the intense heat produced by the fuel gas generator.